Page:A History of the Knights of Malta, or the Order of St. John of Jerusalem.djvu/249

Rh check would have to be imposed upon the encroachments of the court of Rome. The time had passed when the support of the pontiff was necessary for its well-being. It was now a sovereign power, well able to hold its own, and but little prepared quietly to brook interference even from its ecclesiastical superior. From this time forward we shall find that the annals teem with disputes between the knights and the popes of Rome, all owing to autocratic attempts upon the part of the latter sternly resisted by the former.

The last act of Fluvian’s life was to rebuild the great hospital of the island and to add to its endowments. He died on the 26th October, 1437, leaving by his will the sum of 200,000 ducats as a gift to the public treasury. A monument was erected to his memory in the following year by the knights of the langue of Spain, which bore the following inscription, partly in Greek and partly in Latin:—

“ANEY XPIMATΩN OYΔEN ENTOPΘEITAI. Ternpore Pace Parcemonia Equites Citerioris Hispanie Antonio Fluviano Mag Svo: S. Nq. M. H. Pacis Et Frugalitatis Artibus Ornatissirno Longnvo Seni Adhuc Viventi De Cofliuni Cosilio Rhodii Sententia Anno MCCCCXXXV1II. Cum Magno Populi Plausu Erexere.

“Nothing can be done without money. In time of peace economy.

“The Knights of nearer Spain have erected this monument to Antonio Fluvian, Grand-Master of the holy and noble militia of Jerusalem, skilled in the arts of peace and economy, still full of rigour when advanced in age, with the consent of the council of Rhodes, in the year 1438, with the great applause of the people.”

John de Lastie was raised to the magisterial seat vacated by the death of Fluvian. This knight, who was born in Auvergue in 1371, had at an early age taken part in the war with England, having been made prisoner by that power in 1394. In the following year he arrived at Rhodes, where he was professed as a knight. He was appointed commander of Mont- calm, and afterwards grand-prior of Auvergne, which post he held at the time of his election. It was the custom in those